Brady appeals tripping fine: ‘I missed him’
Tom Brady is appealing a fine for attempting to trip Dallas Cowboys safety Malik Hooker during a fumble return in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ wild-card loss that ended their season.
The star quarterback spoke on the incident in an episode of his “Let’s Go!” podcast released Monday. He said that he’s frustrated by the $16,444 fine and that he is being punished for a play that didn’t even turn out how he intended.
“I tried to tackle him with my right shoulder and missed him. And I wasn’t going to try to stick my arm out, so I was trying to get him on the ground. I tried to get him on the ground and I missed him. Completely!” Brady said. “I didn’t even hit him. I tried to trip him, but I didn’t!
“So I don’t know how you can get fined for something that didn’t even happen. Are they finding an intention? It’s like targeting and you missed the person you hit and they still call it targeting. I gotta figure out and understand why this is the case. This is why I wish our NFLPA was stronger.”
Co-host Jim Gray took the time to ask a question that’s on the mind of many NFL fans: If he will return for a 24th season. Brady briefly retired in the 2022 offseason before returning to the Buccaneers 40 days later.
“If I knew what I was going to (expletive) do, I would have already (expletive) done it,” he said.
“I’m taking it a day at a time.” Instead of worrying about his football future, Brady explained how he’s taken the week or so of the offseason to slow down and spend time with loved ones.
“I did a lot of things with my kids and family, trying to get caught up like most probably football players do at the end of a long season,” he said. “There’s a lot of decompression. I know we use that word a lot, but there is a real crash landing element to all of this, and doing it for as long as I have, there’s no soft landing either. It ends and it’s over. As much as you’d love for something to be a little softer on the way out, it’s just not the reality.”